Apocalypse

Four propellers cut through the air – interminable and unending as the aircraft chased the setting sun.

Birds flew close to the white beast as it whistled above the cliff. It had done so countless times. Lights blinked and cameras focused, mapping and fixing its target: the endless dusk, high above the world.

The Six year old girl plucked another apple from the tree, her thumb stroking the firm green flesh and sweeping droplets of water from the skin.

She looked into the garden. Trees were laden, heaving with fruit: rows of vegetables were blooming, leaves reaching towards blazing lightbulbs, far above. The glass biosphere stretched on and on. It was Eden and she was Eve.

The wasteland had blackened the boy’s skin. His hands stroked at his arms as he swayed in the frigid cold beyond the dome, watching the girl through the glass.

She waved as she bit into the Apple.

(c) Tim Austin 2016. Image by Cosmic Timetraveller via Unsplash.

Today’s One Word Title comes from Jemma Gross, artistic director of Epsilon Productions – an award winning theatre company based down in ol’ London Town. You can read more about her at http://www.jemmagross.com/ or find her on Twitter @JemmaGross. Thanks Jemma!

Don’t be shy: I’m accepting new one word titles all the time. Just pop your word in the comments with your name or tweet it to me @timaustin2k using the hashtag #onewordonestory.

It was hard to breathe in the gas mask. It was hard to see the monitor, let alone the Petri Dish.

The white lights glared from the sterile steel of the bench. In the quiet of the lab Susan’s heart thundered. Her hands trembled.

She pressed a sample to the dish, the monitor swarming with a mass of writhing black lines, striking out at the human cells.

A tear rolled down her cheek as Susan looked from the screen to the gallery.

“Doctor?”

“,….. Two weeks. And then,…”

She hadn’t the heart to say it.

“Call the President.”

(c) Tim Austin 2016. Promo image by Jesse Orrico via Unsplash

I’m writing a brand new story every single day for a whole year! Click Introducing One Word One Story to learn more! If you have a word you’d like me to write a story on, pop it in the comments below or tweet it to me @timaustin2k using the hashtag #onewordonestory